136 
WILLIS AND GARDINER : BOTANY 
Group VII. — Timbers. 
Timber is not plentiful in the islands, and some is at times 
imported. Practically every possible tree is used for timber. 
Kuredi (Pemphis) is used principally for firing. Good houses, 
boats, and other things are constructed from the cocoanut 
wood. Pandanus is used in a temporary house. Flooring is 
made of any light wood. Among the list of plants in the 
islands given above there occur the following which have 
more or less useful timber : Gyrocarpus, Barringtonia, 
Scævola, Chrysophyllum ? Mimusops, Cordia, Premna, Vitex, 
Pisonia, Hernandia, Ficus spp., Artocarpus spp.. Bamboo. 
Ornamental Plants. 
Pyrard de Laval records the islanders as very fond of bright 
and sweet-smelling flowers,^ but the number upon the list 
above is very small, and there are many which one would 
expect to have found which are absent from the list. To 
enumerate them in systematic order, there are : (i.) common 
everywhere, Cassia Sophera (possibly not cult.), rose, Guet- 
tarda speciosa (wild). Jasmines, Vinca rosea. Plumeria acuti- 
folia, Ocimum spp.. Mirabilis Jalapa, &c. ; (ii.) occasionally 
cultivated, Artabotrys ? Gynandropsis (wild). Hibiscus Rosa- 
sinensis, H. Abelmoschus ? Abroma augusta, Clitoria, Cæ- 
salpinia pulcherrima, Poinciana, Acacia Farnesiana, Passi- 
flora cœrulea, Panax, sp. ? Aralia Guilfoylei, Tithonia diversi- 
folia, Thevetia, Ipomœa Quamoclit, Datura suaveolens, 
Clerodendron fragrans, Antigonon Leptopus, Bougainvillæa 
spectabilis, Celosia, Amarantus caudatus, and others. Many 
are quite recent introductions and found only in Malé Atoll. 
For a people fond of flowers, the list, even considering the 
unfavourableness of the soil and climate to gardening, is a 
small one. 
* They certainly care for the scent, not the prettiness, now. I doubt 
Pyrard here, and think he must have g-ot confused with his later experi- 
ences in India. There is nothing to show that the people ever attained 
this pitch of civilization. — J. S. G. 
